Rating: 
Summary: A Bad Habit
Review: Like the majority of other reviewers, I will give this advice to first time readers. Do not read this book. Go get the first ten and then stop. You will have the pleasure of experiencing the real Cat Who series. If you sit back, enjoy them and then stop you will avoid the rip off feeling of getting suckered once again by a money hungry publisher.Each time I see a new Cat Who book come out I always swear I will not give in and waste my time reading it unless it starts with the phrase "Qwill had to investigate a murder too close to home, the pretentious, self centered woman with the nice voice is alas no longer with us. A bientot Polly." However, like an old friend from high school,whom you used to really like, but has now gotten boring and annoying, I keep getting suckered in. This one has to be the worst yet. After reading the ending twice, I still can't figure out WHY the strangers were murdered! I will go a little bit further than the people who are saying this has to be ghost written. I think someone has developed a sophisticated merge program and the last few books have been thrown together by computer with an editor going in and doing a bad job of connecting the dotted lines.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have...should have...
Review: I love the Cat Who books and have read them all several times. This one was so disapointing. Several reviewers have speculated that this book was written by a ghostwriter and I am afraid that is exactly the thought I had while I was reading. Too many things are "off" from the other books. Quill goes off and immerses himself in other things because there is nothing he can do to help the police? Not the Quill I know and love! He would be poking around talking to everyone and digging up clues. There was so much that could have been built on, the new bookstore, the turkeys that I kept expecting to be some type of clue but weren't and the new museum. Instead we had too much written about a play that was just like the play in the earlier book. I love the characters but they seem to do little more than go out to eat in these more recent books. I'm giving this book 2 stars, one for Koko and one for Yum Yum. I only wish they had been the stars in this book instead of barely mentioned.
Rating: 
Summary: Peaceful, zen-like, but not quite a mystery
Review: With the city of Brrr in upper Michigan getting ready to celebrate its 200th birthday party, newspaper columnist and secret millionaire James Qwilleran picks up his typewriter and begins working on a one-man play about the great storm of 1913. His cat Koko warns him of a murder on his property and tries to send him clues by picking a particular book--the hunting of the Snark--but Qwilleran is too busy with the Brrr festivities, interfering with an aging woman's choice of whether to leave her home to her unfriendly granddaughter, and helping friend/girlfriend Polly with her plans to open a bookstore in the town of Pickax. Author Lilian Jackson Braun brings the lifestyle of upper Michigan into focus as ordinary people interact with Qwilleran, tell him about their lives, and enjoy the way his words add a sense of permanence to what they've always done. Qwilleran's own life, centered around his cats, his writing, and Polly (in that order) is a peaceful and zen-like thing, undisturbed by the violence taking place in the world around him--even in rural Moose county. In his world, the storm of 1913 is every bit as current and certainly far more important than a serial killing that is taking place nearby. Koko the cat disagrees, but he can't seem to get Qwilleran to come around this time. I have profoundly mixed feelings about this book. Qwilleran, the primary character, is essentially passive and goalless through the story. He goes about his life. But it is an interesting life--a life that would have been just as interesting to observe and a lot easier to identify with if murder wasn' happening around him. The bottom line in genre fiction is, was the book worth reading. THE CAT WHO TALKED TURKEY is worth reading for Braun's gentle writing. But if you're looking for a page-turning mystery, you'd do better to look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: As pleasant as the rest in the Series.
Review: I have read every book in the series at least three times, and as always, this book is a pleasant folksy book that makes you feel as though these are all old friends. While it would have been nice for Koko to have taken a bigger part in the story it was enjoyable nonetheless. Some other reviewers seem to think that all of Ms. Braun's books must be hair raising suspense mysteries. She has made a whole community come to life for a lot of us and I would like to thank her for persevering after so many years. Forty-plus years is a long time. Keep up the great work! I only wish she would bring out more than one a year.
Rating:
Summary: Kind of sad
Review: I'm a long-time fan of the "Cat Who..." series and have noticed a steady decline in the quality of the books. They seem to have been written because the author feels she *must* churn out another book, not necessarily because she wants to. This book moved from anecdote to anecdote with little plot to tie it together and the mystery really wasn't much of one. When we did find out "whodunnit", we were still left wondering "whydunnit" -- at least, I was. It's kind of sad to see what's become of a series that used to be a lot of fun and a guaranteed good read.
Rating:
Summary: the cat who talked turkey
Review: Very disappointing. I have read all of the Cat Who series, and found the last two very disapointing. The characters are very thin, and the relationship to a mystery non existant. I am a reader who does not like excessive detail, but The Cat Who Talked Turkey is definately lacking. Perhaps after 26 Cat Who books Lillian is running out of material. It might be time for Mrs. Braun to retire Mr. Q and kill off Polly.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: It looks like Ms. Braun has decided to kick back and cash in the the cachet of the early "Cat Who" books. This one isn't worth even the very short time it takes to read it. As a long time reader of this series, I'm disappointed - to say the least.
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable read, but not much of a mystery
Review: I have read all of Ms. Braun's delightful Cat Who novels, and find them good, escapist fiction. While they all fall under the mystery genre, in some the mystery is more fully developed than in others. This is one of those with a less developed mystery, with the focus of the book being on the main character, James Mackinosh Qwilleran, and his Siamese cat companions, Koko and Yum-Yum. The main plot of the story revolves around the 200th birthday of Brrr, the oldest and coldest community in Moose County, 400 miles from anywhere. The author describes many charming activities the town plans to celebrate this occasion. One of them is Qwill's dramatic reenactment of the Great Storm of 1913, a passage I found to be exciting and interesting. There are many sub plots, such as the building of a new bookstore which Qwill's erstwhile "significant other", Polly, is to run, and the opening of the Carroll Museum, a project which Qwill himself suggested to Dr. Carroll's widow, Edythe. The museum does not please Mrs. Carroll's daughter, Alicia (nicknamed Lish), at all, as she expected to inherit the fine house and all its contents. Ultimately, the mystery is an afterthought in this book, as other readers have mentioned. The title has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever, unless I missed something, but is rather a reference to some visitors Qwill has in his yard. I still enjoyed the read, full as it was of the Moose County personalities I have grown to love. I never really read these for the mystery anyway, more for the people and the cats. If you feel the same way, give it a read. You will enjoy meeting your friends again!
Rating:
Summary: The Cat Who Published a Turkey
Review: As a fan of Jim Q from his old days at the Daily Fluxion, I was even entertained somewhat with the tongue-in-cheek treatment of his new life in the early Moose County novels. But the last few novels have been increasingly poor in quality, and this one is the worst by far. The reasons are too numerous to count. Here are but a few. First, the turkeys in the title have a lot to do with the quality of the book but nothing whatever to do with the major plot line--if you can find it, that is. The "mystery" in this book is incidental at best, almost as if Ms. Braun felt obligated to toss it in but her heart wasn't in it. It's filled with unrelated and uninteresting Moose County events which, again, have nothing to do with a plot line--from the opening scene at the bookstore groundbreaking to Bushy's wedding to several uneventful trips to the beach. The characters have all turned into one-dimensional parodies of themselves. Polly is more priggish than ever. Even Arch Riker is a bore. But not more boring than Mr. Q and his cats. It seems like the eccentric characters that populated Moose County have all turned into Stepford copies of Jim Q--who is far less interesting himself! I could keep going, but whatever you do, don't buy this book. If you must read it, the library is the answer. You can read it in about 90 minutes. Which leads to my final remark. The editor should be ashamed to have used Braun so disgracefully after such a long and distinguished career. It doesn't take a professional to know that this book was printed for money, not even remotely for quality. And to Lillian Jackson Braun: thank you for so many hours of pleasure with your past books. But perhaps it's time for Jim Q to be retired.
Rating:
Summary: Dull
Review: Braun generally writes engaging stories about Jim Qwilleran, who inherited a gigantic family fortune in the later years of his life, and his cats, Koko and Yum Yum. The series is catagorized as mystery becuase there is some kind of unexplained murder in every book. Generally, Qwill is involved in solving them, while Koko provides invaluable assistance with his superior cat insticts. In this book, the murder is entirely periphial to the plot, and Qwill's only real connection to it is that Koko yowls when it occoured. Otherwise, this might be any of a number of poor Mitford knock-offs, where the interst is supposed to come from the characters, but the characters are so dull that the story is not worth reading. The denouement at the end is forced and poorly written. In short, the entire book is dull, with none of the charm that Braun usually injects into the series. Save your time and money and buy a different book.
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